[ABOLITIONISM]. [Willson, S.W., La Roy Sunderland, et al.]
An appeal on the subject of slavery: addressed to the members of the New England and New Hampshire conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Together with a Defence of said Appeal, in which is shown the sin of holding property in man Boston: Published by David H. Ela, 1835. FIRST EDITION. IN GOOD ANTIQUARIAN CONDITION. 48 pp. Modern wrappers. Title-page and following leaf with small abrasion on outer margins An important, and extraordinarily early record of the dispute between Abolitionists and their slave-holding brethren within the Methodist Episcopal Church, concerning the ownership of slaves by parishioners and ministers alike. The authors of the work, supported by abundant philosophical, legal, and Biblical references sources, assert that "every American citizen who retains a fellow being in bondage as a piece of PROPERTY, and takes the price of his labor without his consent, is guilty of a crime which cannot be reconciled with the spirit of the Christian religion; and it is the more criminal for a professing Christian or Christian minister to do this, because they thus afford their support to an unjust and violent system of oppressions." Chapters include: "Is the Methodist Episcopal Church as much opposed to Slavery now, as Wesley and the Methodist Preachers were fifty years ago?" (i.e. 1785); "Wesley's Definition of Slavery"; "Wesley's Account of Some Evils of Slavery"; "Wesley defined Sin against God, the same as we do"; "Wesley and Blackstone prove Slave-holding to be a Sin, by a course of reasoning which has been, and never can be, refuted." * REFERENCE: Dumond 19. Not in LCP or Blockson. * Scarce: Emory, Duke and SMU have only reproductions of this book (sic!) * Our copy appears to be the only one on the market.
[Bookseller: Michael Laird Rare Books LLC]